Equestrian: Las Vegas beckons winner of NZ round

Wairoa's Molly Savill and Richard the Third won the New Zealand round of the World Cup showjumping final at Ti Papa in Auckland yesterday.

The combination were the fastest of the four to go through to the jump-off in the 1.40m-1.60m event.

Savill, 27, and her 11-year-old Hanovarian thoroughbred cross went into the 10th and final round of the cup in third spot.

The win qualifies the combination for the World Cup final in Las Vegas in April and Savill, the current New Zealand female rider of the year, said she hoped to go.

Richard the Third, the current 1.35m-1.60m national showjumping champion, dropped a rail in the first round yesterday, but Savill said he helped her out a few times in the jump-off.

Bay of Plenty's Sally Anderson and Well Wisher were second, followed by Lisa Coupe from Auckland, the youngest starter in the 15-strong field. The 18-year-old and her sometimes-difficult horse, Gemima Puddle Duck, bagged four faults in the jump-off.

She swept through the challenging course a split-second faster than Wellington's Marcus Wild and Telegraph, who recorded the same number of faults.